Winter Weather
by MythGirl Writes
Summary: Celebrate the holiday season with this collection of winter-themed oneshots! Contains characters from the manga, games, and anime, as well as both platonic stories and shipping stories.
1. Stupid Tree's Too Tall

**Happy holidays, everyone! Welcome to my winter oneshot collection, starring a myriad of characters from all three canons (anime, manga, games). With this pleasant mix of platonic and romantic stories, Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate) is coming early!**

 **Most of these chapters are fairly short, about one- or two-thousand words each, but I think that was a good length for these.**

 **We're starting off with some nice OldRival to liven our spirits and get us ready for the holidays! (BTW, Blue is the girl and Green is the guy) So, without further ado, enjoy!**

* * *

As soon as Green stepped inside Blue's house on the last day of November, he regretted it instantly. It smelled like she had cookies in the oven, which was alright, but there were Christmas decorations everywhere, and he meant _everywhere_. Lights and candles shone throughout the hallways and rooms, Christmas music was playing from somewhere, and Blue was in the middle of it all, wearing a slightly oversized red sweater, black leggings, and a large smile.

He hated that she already decorated. He, Daisy, and their grandfather usually decorated the house two weeks before Christmas. Even then, they didn't make it into that big of a deal. "Are you serious?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. He had never known Blue to be this excited about a holiday that wasn't her or any of their friends' birthdays. "You're insane. It's still November."

She rolled her aquamarine eyes at him, though a smile still adorned her lips. "Your point? Tomorrow is December first, I have to be ready!" She didn't even address the insane part of his statement, probably ignoring it on purpose. Beckoning with a hand for him to follow, she turned on her heel and retreated into the house. With a sigh, he followed, eyes skimming over the numerous other decorations she had already put up.

"Remind me why I'm here again." It wasn't even a question. She had better have a good reason for calling him over from his gym to her home in Pallet Town. How she convinced him to do so, he really had no idea. He had asked Yellow to look after the gym for the day and contact him if he had any challengers that were adamant about battling him today, even though his hologram could easily handle them. Yellow being there was more or less just for insurance that nobody was going to break in. For all he knew, though, she could have fallen asleep on the job. She had a tendency to do that at times.

"I need your help with something. Did you not listen to anything I said when I called?" Blue huffed, hands resting soundly on her hips. They were in the living room now, and he found the source of the music to be a music station on her television. Her tree was up in a corner of the room, lights and ornaments smothering the green needles. Boxes were strewn all over the room, most of them empty. "Don't answer that, I'm not sure I want to know."

He crossed his arms across his chest. At least it wasn't so cold out that he needed his heavy jacket, but it would get to that point soon enough. "For your information, I listen when you talk. That's how I know that you decorate way too early for Christmas. Then again, I have eyes, so I could've seen that anyway. Now, what do you need my help with?"

She pointed an index finger to the top of her tree. "I can't reach the top of the tree, and I still need to put the star there. I couldn't reach standing on a chair, either."

A deep breath with eyes closed. "So you called me over here, away from my gym, to help you reach something? Why couldn't you just call Red, he's as tall as me if not a bit taller."

Her cheeks puffed out. "He's not here. Crys said that he mentioned being in Johto for a week or so, and I need this star up now." She held up an open palm when he opened his mouth. "And before you ask, Silver couldn't reach either; he's about as tall as me."

"Fine. Where's this star?" Blue grinned at his relenting exhale, approaching a shoebox and removing the lid, lifting out a sleek plastic star.

"Right here. My parents gave this to me last year, you know." She smiled wistfully at the star for a moment, perhaps remembering when she was gifted the ornament. After all of the trials she had gone through just to be reunited with her parents, even something as simple as this would hold some sentimental value to her. It was nice, seeing her at such peace. She broke out of her thoughts after a moment, handing him the star. "Same goes for all of these ornaments, too. They have way too many and-"

"Are we going to do this or not?"

She grinned sheepishly, one of the only times he'd ever seen her do so. "Sorry. Anyway. Here. Right at the top of the tree, please!" she requested, pointing him towards the chair he could stand on.

He balanced himself carefully on the chair, reaching up and fixing the star in the highest part of the tree. At least he was tall enough where he didn't need to go on his toes to reach it. Maybe he _was_ the tallest of him, Red, and Silver. "There. Done." He climbed back down from the chair, glancing up at the star. Now that it was on the tree, the tree itself seemed so much more complete that it had before.

Blue nodded in approval. "That looks great!" Her oven dinged, letting her know the cookies were ready. "Do you want one?" she asked over her shoulder, starting towards the kitchen. He followed right behind her.

"Sure. I haven't had anything since breakfast." He glanced at the clock. Yep, it was already two o'clock.

The cookies came out and onto the counter to cool. "You really should work on not letting your gym duties distract you from getting nutrition," she chided, turning off the oven.

"You sound just like Daisy," he remarked, leaning against the counter. The cookies she made really did look good. "She's always getting on my back about this stuff."

"I must be picking it up from my parents."

That reminded him. "You see your parents a lot, right? Are you going to visit them for Christmas?"

A slightly pained expression overtook her face. "Not this year. They're actually going to Alola for the holidays, and I would rather stay close to home. You traveling anywhere?"

"I might come by Pallet Town to see Grandpa and Daisy, but other than that, I'm not really going anywhere." He shrugged indifferently. "I'm definitely closing the gym for the holidays like the other leaders, though."

Green grimaced internally when he noticed Blue had her thinking face on. There was rarely anything good that came from that.

"How about when you're done visiting family, you meet the rest of us here?"

...This must've been one of the times when she had a good idea.

"Who's 'the rest of us?'" he asked first before giving a definitive answer.

She waved her hands in the air haphazardly. "It's just me, Red, and Yellow. Yellow's uncle is going to be on a fishing trip, and I didn't want her to spend Christmas alone. Same goes for Red, since he'd probably be spending it alone, too. I figured, why not make a small gathering out of it?"

It made sense, all except for one part. "Is Silver not coming?"

A roll of her eyes and a shake of her head indicated that no, he wasn't. "He's still training with Pryce and Lance. He's too stubborn to give in to my begging, too." Smiling with pride, she added, "I taught him well."

Grabbing one of the cookies off of the baking sheet, he gave his answer. "Sounds like it'll be nice. I'll be there."

"Yes!" She pumped a fist in the air victoriously before taking a cookie for herself. "I knew I'd be able to convince you." Her eyes closed for a moment as she took a bite out of her cookie. "Victory tastes amazing."

He couldn't help it; he chuckled a bit, biting into his cookie. The explosion of sweetness caught him a bit by surprise; who had known that Blue was such a good baker? "These are great, Blue."

"I'm glad you like them. Why don't you take some back for later, and some for Yellow, too? She's watching your gym, right?"

He nodded, reminding himself that he had a gym to get back to. "Yeah, she is. She's usually my go-to for this, seeing as she doesn't live that far from the gym." His eyes wandered over to the clock again. "I should probably get going now. I promised Yellow I wouldn't take all day."

Blue nodded in understanding, finishing off her cookie and bagging some more for him and Yellow. "Alright. Let me walk you out." It was a very short walk, but she still accompanied him, handing him the bag with the cookies. "Thanks so much for your help!" Before he had a chance to react, she swooped in and gave him a quick kiss. It was short, but he still tasted the cookie on her lips. He felt his face grow just the tiniest bit warm, but soon shook it off, waving goodbye with a small smirk as she winked flirtatiously and waved.

Maybe it had been a good decision to come after all. He could never tell where their conversations would go, but this time it brought them to what he thought was a good place. It was really all he thought about as he was approaching the route to Viridian City.

"Hey, Green!" Green looked over his shoulder, giving a small wave to Red as they both kept walking.

Wait a moment. Didn't Blue just say...? Green shook his head and rolled his eyes to himself. Leave it to Blue to say anything to persuade him to do her a favor. What an obnoxious woman.

* * *

 **Ayy, there's some of the romance I was talking about! Hope you all enjoyed this, for there's a lot more where this came from! Next update, you can all look forward to some BurningLeaf :D I'll see you all next time!**

 **(P.S.- My sister came up with the title for this one even though she refused to read any of it. I couldn't think of anything better, so here we are.)**


	2. A Little Unwanted Help

**And here's that BurningLeaf I was telling you about! I should inform you, I have my own personalities for the player characters written out for my reference in all of my fics, and that includes Red. The quick sum-ups are that Leaf does all of the talking for her and Red and is super competitive with a soft interior, and Red is basically the calmer side of Leaf. Of course, I have many more details than that, but why should I bore you when you probably want to get to the story already?**

* * *

When all else fails, Leaf found it helpful to repeat herself a hundred times. "I told you, I don't _need_ any help. I can do this on my own," she grumbled to her best friend, lugging her bundle of Christmas lights outside while he followed close behind. Both of them were clad in winter gear, due to the already freezing temperatures. Although she had already gone over this fact a few times, she still felt his lingering gaze on her back as though he didn't believe her. She knew him well enough that she knew what he was thinking just based on the way he was looking at her. He also knew her well enough that he had a reason to not believe that she could do this without major injury- her klutziness was not new to him. Even so, it would have been better if he took her word for once without his challenging gaze burning through her.

With a puff of air, she dropped the lights into the two inches of snow that had already accumulated the night before along with the snow gently falling now. She was used to putting her lights up before it started snowing, but she got a little caught up with other obligations- specifically, making sure Red actually came down from Mount Silver. While she respected that he liked training in solitude, she felt the need to force him to check in with her in Pallet Town at least once a month. And, of course, she had made him come down for the holiday season, no matter how far off it was at this point. She didn't feel like being stuck with Blue the whole month like last year. His "smell ya later" jokes had gotten old _way_ before they were all trainers, yet he still insisted on parting with the saying.

Feet snug and dry in her snow boots, Leaf first hooked the reel of lights to the edge of the ladder before starting her ascent, doing her best to ignore Red's eyes boring into her back. For some reason, it made her feel uneasy, as though she was sure he was waiting for her to say something. She quickly shook the thought out of her mind, focusing on the task at hand. She'd done this so many times before on her own, and she knew that she didn't need any help, no matter what Red implied. Heck, she'd even had to fend off Blue's help on multiple occasions when he was trying to prove yet again that he was stronger than her. (Spoiler: he wasn't.)

Her ladder having been set up before she came out with the lights, there was now a fine layer of fresh snow on the steps, but she could live with that. Brushing the snow off with a gloved hand, she climbed a couple of steps and tested her reach to see if she could touch the hooks for the lights she kept up year-round. She then began unwinding the colorful lights and hooking them to the roof, muttering to herself all the while as Red kept his eyes trained on her. Once she had done all that she could reach, she stepped back down the ladder and dragged it a couple of feet before forcing it down into the snow and climbing back up. The process repeated a few times, snow falling lightly around her and Red after a few minutes.

Hanging the lights only took a grand total of about thirty minutes, but Leaf was still shivering underneath her heavy winter coat once she finished. It was a curse to feel cold really easily, even in the middle of the summer. Her foot shifted a fraction of an inch due to her shivering and the slippery wetness of her boots. She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt herself begin to fall, pitching backwards off of the ladder, heading a few feet down, straight for the snow-

She never fell onto the snow, which had actually happened the year before. When she looked up, instead of the sky and snow she saw Red looking down at her, slight concern etched in his face. Since when had he become strong enough to hold her like this? He used to be so scrawny when they were younger...

Finally she collected her wits with a deep breath. "Thanks for that," she said cheerfully, placing a hand on his chest and gently pushing herself out of his arms. "I'm good now."

The expression on his face seemed to suggest that he didn't believe her, even as she started back up the ladder, being careful to hold on tight while hanging the last section that had come undone when she had fallen. "See? That wasn't that hard. I didn't need any help, just like I told you!" Her statement was punctuated by her slipping once more, thanks to her natural klutziness. This time, however, she fell into Red, their lips colliding in a forced kiss. Both sets of eyes widened, and Leaf was quick to pull away, cheeks burning enough to warm her entire body. She was absolutely certain that this was going to ruin their friendship. It didn't matter that the closer they grew, the more she had wanted to be with him as more than a friend. She was sure he didn't feel the same way. "Oh my gosh, I am _so sorry-_ "

She was cut off, surprised by another soft kiss. This time, she returned the kiss for mere seconds before pulling away and shooting him a teasing glance. Gosh, that was great, but she still had some unfinished business to attend to. "We still have to plug the lights in, you know," she commented, walking away while still holding one of his hands. He didn't protest to being dragged along.

Picking up the ends of the plug, she bowed deeply, holding them out to him. "Would you care to do the honors, kind sir?" Tilting her head upward to see his reaction, she took note of the smile showing in his eyes, though his lips barely twitched. He took the plug from her, connecting the ends as they watched the colors light up the already bright midday. "Amazing. This calls for celebration."

This time, she was the one who kissed him, catching him off-guard for once in her life. They melted into each other, certain that the other felt exactly the same as they did. And really, it was then that Leaf decided that having a little help wasn't such a bad thing.

* * *

 **More shipping here! I liked this one, and so did Writer's Guild, so I must've done something right XD I hope you all enjoyed it as well, even though there wasn't a whole lot of dialogue (blame it on Red). The next chapter brings us back to the mangaverse with some platonic Lucky! Oh, that one was _so much_ fun to write... *cackles evilly***

 **Thank you to Jaspboy for following and favoriting, Ethhar for following, FluffyCanaries for following, and everyone else for reading!**


	3. Freezing

**You know, I've always loved the mangaverse, especially because my favorite Pokemon character of all time lives in it. And in case you're wondering, that would be Yellow.**

 **Anyways, here we have platonic Lucky (because my Specialshipping heart doesn't like its competitors at the moment). These two don't get enough time to just bond with each other in a non-romantic way, so I've taken the liberty of doing that!**

* * *

When Blue entered Red's house on a particularly cold December morning, the first and only thing she did was sit herself down in front of the fireplace in his living room and spread out on her back. Luckily, he hadn't decorated for the holidays yet, so there was nothing in her way of laying there spread-eagle. Pika, who was curled up closer to the fire as well, didn't let his unsurprising gaze linger on her long, probably at least somewhat used to strange behavior from her by now. Mere moments after she had situated herself in this position, Red appeared above her from wherever he had been in the house before, peering down with curiosity and surprise pent up behind his crimson eyes. "What are you doing on my floor?"

"'M cold," she murmured, closing her eyes for a moment and drinking in the warmth of the blazing fire beside her. "You're house is always warmer than mine. So here I am."

Even with her eyes closed, she could tell that her friend was wearing an incredulous expression. Honestly, she knew him too well. "You're wearing heavy clothes and it's barely below freezing. How are you cold?"

"Says the man who 'doesn't get cold' anymore." In truth, she _had_ bundled up, ditching her regular t-shirt and skirt for leggings under sweatpants and a sweatshirt over a long-sleeved sweater. In addition, Red kept making fun of her and the rest of their friends, since after being frozen by Lorelei all those years ago, he didn't get cold nearly as easily as the rest of them, much to their annoyance. "So sue me if I'm human and cold."

When she heard shuffling on her left, she opened one aquamarine eye to see him sitting down next to her, legs stretched out in front of him. "Might as well join you, then," he justified with a shrug once he noticed her peeking at him. "I guess it is nice and toasty over here."

"No, really? Hadn't noticed," she remarked sarcastically. She liked to think that she was eloquently fluent in the language of sarcasm. Pika moved over to curl up in Red's lap, becoming a yellow and brown ball of fur. It was actually kind of cute. "Haven't seen you out in a while. What gives?"

He barked out a laugh, absently petting Pika's tail. "Why are you turning this on me?" Once she gave no response, he answered her question. "I've been a bit busy. I had a great idea on a present for Yellow this Christmas, but it's taking me a lot longer to make than I expected."

That certainly piqued her interest, making her open both of her eyes. "Oh? Tell me more." Maybe it was possible that he finally figured out how Yellow felt for him and realized that he felt the same. It wasn't like Yellow's feelings were always obvious, but it was safe to say that Red was not always the most observant person in Kanto.

Red grinned to himself, staring at the floor just in front of the fireplace as though he were lost in his own world. "Well, you know how she likes nature, and drawing, and her friends and pokémon... I'm making her a giant collage of pictures of her friends, drawings of her pokémon, and leaves and flowers from Viridian Forest. I collected the leaves and flowers during the fall and pressed them, but the drawing is the hardest part, mostly because I'm not the best artist." A faint pink tint adorned his cheeks once he finished the explanation. "Do you think she'll like it?"

If Blue was blown away with the idea (which she totally was), then Yellow would absolutely adore it. "Definitely! She'll be ecstatic when she sees the finished product. I have some extra pictures of all of us lying around somewhere, too, if you want to use them." She was guilty of taking more than one picture of their friends whenever they got together, if only to preserve memories in which they weren't fighting for their lives and/or the survival of humanity.

"That'd be great, thanks." They were both quiet for a heartbeat before Blue smirked and replied.

"Of course. And you know, if you want me to talk you up to her..." Blue trailed off, her desired effect of being a good friend and teasing him reached. Red's cheeks burned a darker pink now, but he didn't stop smiling. "I know, I know; I'm an awesome wingwoman. But you really don't need my help. You're both perfect for each other, and you're in the best spot of all of us to get into a relationship."

"...This conversation just took a three-sixty." The embarrassment in his voice was evident. No matter how strong he appeared to be, Blue always knew exactly what to say to render him somewhat speechless. It's what made her an amazing friend.

She hummed in agreement, knowing full well that he would continue to ignore the subject for as long as he could. "Yeah. Let's just sit here for a minute."

Her eyes closed again and she put at arm over them, her body feeling warm and fuzzy all the way through now that she'd spent a few minutes in front of the fire. In fact, she could practically fall asleep right then and there.

"Blue?" Darn Red and his breaking the peaceful silence. Now she couldn't take a nap.

"Mmm." She let her arm drop to the side and opened her eyes slightly, peering up at him.

Red broke out into another smile, this time a tiny bit curious. "How did you even get in here? You don't have a key, and I know you wouldn't take the key I gave to Yellow."

Oh, how naive he was. He should know the answer by now. "Easy solution, my dear Red. I always carry a pack of bobby pins with me. You really need a reality check if you think that I can't handle a simple lock."

* * *

 **Like I said last time, I had a lot of fun writing this XD These two need a lot more friendship moments, and honestly, their friendship cracks me up!**

 **Okay, next time we're scheduled for some platonic FourthWheel! That's right, the first anime installment in this series! Now, I know a lot of us FourthWheelShippers think that Max and Bonnie would be great friends, and so do I, but... well, let's just say I have something else in mind for this chapter...**

 **Thank you to everyone for reading!**


	4. Know Your Rival

**Musical rehearsals have started again! You know what that means: I won't have a lot of time to write between now and March. I'll still try to get some in, of course. Also, happy birthday Taylor Swift!**

 **Random notes aside, I had the greatest time writing this chapter, you don't even know! I don't even want to keep you any longer, just- just read it!**

* * *

Bonnie had just gotten off the video phone with Clemont in Snowpoint City's Pokémon Center when she heard an unfortunately familiar voice behind her. "Oh. _You're_ here."

She turned towards the source of the voice, a boy her age, with a scowl on her lips. Without looking, she knew that on the shoulder of her coat Dedenne was wearing the exact opposite expression. For reasons unknown to her, her small orange pokémon friend seemed to like her biggest rival. "I could say the same to you," she threw back, crossing her arms and sticking her tongue out.

"What are we, five?" he scoffed, rolling his dark brown eyes behind his glasses. "Aren't we more mature than that?"

"You tell me, Max." Ever since they had met in Canalave City at the very start of their journeys- that was where the boat from Coumarine City had taken her- they had been at odds with each other over every matter that arose. What had started off as a difference in opinion about training styles had soon escalated into Max calling her immature and her retorting with the fact that he was a know-it-all.

Max opened his mouth to retaliate but thought better of it, sighing lightly in resignation. "Look, my sister keeps calling me trying to convince me to stop fighting with you, even if it's for a little while." He snorted at the thought. "I tried bringing up the fact that she never really stopped competing with her rival, Drew, but she had too many examples against my case. I think we should just get this over with, if only to make her stop nagging me. So, truce?"

She searched his face, contemplating his offer. Truth be told, Serena had been getting on her case for the same reason for... oh, a month or so, even though the performer was still in Hoenn. Bonnie never really talked to Clemont about this rivalry, though. In fact, she didn't even know how Serena knew about it.

"I have hot chocolate we can share," he offered, interrupting her thoughts.

That convinced her. If there was any way to convince her to agree to something, it was by offering her sugar. "Fine. Only for a little while, though."

"Naturally." The young trainers found a table to sit at, and Max started rummaging through his backpack while Bonnie settled in. "Are you staying in Snowpoint City for a while, then?"

She nodded, watching as he extracted a thermos and two foam cups from his backpack. Her presence in Snowpoint City was for the same reason as Canalave City, Oreburgh City, and Eterna City. "Yeah, I'm going to challenge Candice for my fourth badge sometime this week. She's an ice-type leader, right?"

"That would make sense. It's why I'm here, too." Steam spilled over the top of the thermos as he uncapped it, and they both breathed in the sweet scent of the hot chocolate. He poured some of the liquid into a cup, handing it to her before pouring more for himself. "It's still hot, so you should wait a minute," he advised before recapping the thermos.

"Thank you." She blew on the drink lightly, creating ripples in the surface. Not heeding the warning, she took a sip, the burning liquid slipping down her throat. "Wow, you weren't kidding." His reaction was another roll of his eyes and an _I-told-you-so_ look. Dedenne hopped down from her shoulder, curling up on the table next to the warm thermos. "Hey, Max, I never thought to ask before. Are you from around here?"

Max shook his head, blowing on his cup as well. "No, I'm from Petalburg City in Hoenn. And I'm assuming you're not from Sinnoh, either?"

"Nu-uh. I'm from Lumiose City in Kalos. My brother's the gym leader there, too," she boasted with pride. Clemont had been running the gym since they had returned from their journey with Ash and Serena, and still managed to find time for his inventions.

His eyebrows raised in slight surprise. "You're related to a gym leader, too? My dad's the Petalburg City gym leader. I came to Sinnoh first so that my dad will see how much I've improved on my own. Getting stronger and improving is why Kirlia and I started our journey in the first place," he stated, referencing his evolved starter.

"That's... actually why I came here, too." It was ironic, really, that the two of them were in Sinnoh for the exact same reason. "I went on a journey through Kalos with my brother and two of our friends last year, and I didn't want them to compare me to one of our friends just yet. I also want to get a whole lot stronger so I can beat my brother on my first try!" While she was still excited at the prospect of winning a gym badge from her brother, she tilted her head at Max's odd expression. "What?"

"That sounds kind of familiar..." he thought for a moment before snapping his fingers. "I've got it! One of your friends was named Serena, right? And she's a coordinator?"

Now it was Bonnie's turn to be surprised. "Yeah, she wanted to go to Hoenn to be a coordinator so she could eventually become the Kalos Queen. How did you know that?"

"My sister's been telling me about her. You see, May is a coordinator, too, so she must've met Serena somewhere along the way since she's trying for the Hoenn Grand Festival again."

The pieces clicked together in her mind. "That must be why she's been trying to get me to stop fighting with you! She must've heard about our rivalry from May then, because I never mentioned it to her."

Max groaned, closing his eyes for a minute. "They're probably trying to set us up, too." Anytime they were arguing in public, there was always at least one person who deemed it a "lover's quarrel," much to their annoyance. "We need to put a stop to this."

"I know exactly how!" She leaned over the table, prompting him to do the same. "Okay, so Serena really really likes our friend Ash-"

"Wait." He held up a hand to cut her off. "Not Ash Ketchum? May and I traveled with him and our friend Brock a few years back."

Her mouth fell open a bit. "Um, yeah, Ash Ketchum. Jeez, many regions did he travel?" She shook her head, getting back on track. "Anyways, she has the biggest crush on him. She already told him, and even kissed him, but I have so many embarrassing stories to tell him about her! So if you can find out who your sister likes-"

"Then we can blackmail them into not setting us up anymore," Max concluded with a smirk. "That's perfect! I already know how to contact May's crush, anyway." His smile softened a touch. "We make a pretty good team, actually."

Bonnie laughed for a minute. "Who would've thought? How about we're more friendly rivals from now on, then?"

"That can be arranged." Both of them picked up their drinks, now cooled enough so as to not burn their mouths. Their new friendship had only just begun...

 **X-X-X**

 _A few days (and set-up attempts) later..._

"So if you don't stop trying to set us up, I'm telling Ash about some stories your mom told us when we saw her that one time," Bonnie started over the videophone. "I think he'll _love_ the one about you trying on makeup when you were seven."

Serena's face flared up a nice shade of pink with embarrassment and she subconsciously touched the ribbon on her chest. "You wouldn't-"

"She would," Max interrupted, flashing the older girls a mischievous grin akin to Bonnie's. "And May, I have so much that I could tell Drew right now..."

May glared at her brother. "Come on, Max, I don't like him like that."

He laughed at her statement. "I think the voicemails on our home phone would beg to differ." His sister sputtered, her face the same shade as Serena's.

Said girl held up her hands in defeat. "Alright, alright. I'll stop, but Bonnie, you had _better_ not tell Ash about that story!"

Bonnie nodded in agreement. "Deal. Now, May, I think it's your turn."

The two coordinators seemed to have a silent argument on the other side of the screen. Finally, May broke their gaze. "Fine," she snapped, rolling her eyes. "I'll stop, too."

"Thank you. Talk to you later!" Bonnie and Max hung up on the others, snickering and celebrating with a high-five. This was going to turn out to be a wonderful friendship.

* * *

 **Because there's no way they wouldn't be competitive early on and you can fight me if you think May and Serena wouldn't try to set them up. Especially Serena, as payback for Bonnie's little hints at her crush on Ash. Oh yeah, and I also dumped the headcanon on you that they wouldn't start their journey in their home region. I just think that they would want to get stronger first before challenging their home region's gyms, especially since they both have a relative as a gym leader. It just makes sense to me.**

 **One other thing- I haven't really watched a lot of the advance gen seasons (yet), so I apologize if Max and/or May is out of character.**

 **So next time we have a shippy HeartSoul chapter! Making our way back to the gameverse, which means more of my PC personalities~**

 **Thank you to MondaysAreBoring for following and favoriting, and everyone else for reading!**


	5. Worth It

**HeartSoul time! Didn't have to wait long for this one, did you? Okay, so character sum-ups: Ethan is not a morning person and give in easily to doe-eyes and IS NOT a troublemaker, and Lyra is kind and caring, but also wears a cheerful mask over a depressed shell (as seen in my Halloween fic from this year, "The Spirit of Cherrygrove City"). How will these personalities effect the story? Read on and find out!**

* * *

"Psst. Ethan."

Ethan buried his head under his pillow to block out the sunlight streaming in through his window, hoping that whoever was calling him would go away and let him sleep for another few hours. Or days. Maybe even weeks. Who even gets up this early anyway?

"Ethan, I'm not going away, and it's already ten o'clock. It's about time you got up," the voice hissed again. He must've accidentally grumbled that last bit out loud. "Now get up, lazy."

With a loud groan, he pushed himself up in his bed, his pillow and sheets falling down around him. Glancing out the window, he saw that the source of the voice was his girlfriend and neighbor, Lyra. He really needed to remember to put a lock on his window. "What do you want, Soul?" he muttered grumpily, using his and their friend Kris's nickname for her.

"I _want_ you to get out of bed and get yourself out here!" She widened her eyes and blinked innocently at him, something that she knew he could never resist. "Pleeeease?"

Their gazes held for a few seconds before he broke away. " _Fine_. Just give me a minute." She winked at him and went out of the view of his window, presumably back to her own snow-covered lawn. That girl knew exactly how to get him to do what she wanted... Not that he usually minded.

He quickly dressed himself and ate his usual breakfast of cereal, swallowing quickly and washing the bowl before pulling on his snow clothes.

"Where are you going so fast?" his mom wondered with a smile, as she knew that he almost never went anywhere in the morning, let alone this fast.

Ethan shrugged, trying to tug his winter hat over his spiky hair with his gloves already on. Giving up, he stripped the gloves off and shoved his hat on his head. "Lyra wanted me to come out with her. She gave me those innocent doe eyes."

His mom laughed, sitting down to eat her own breakfast. "Well, have fun, and just be glad that Kris never learned how to do doe eyes." He shuddered at that; his other neighbor and friend Kris was like a perfect blend of him and Lyra, though twice as mischievous as both of them combined. It was actually comical that he was often labelled as the troublemaker of the group, when in reality it was Kris who pulled all of the pranks.

"Thanks, Mom." Slipping on his boots, he walked out into the crunchy snow, first noticing Lyra lying on the ground in his front yard. "...What are you doing?"

"Making a snow angel," she called up to him, her arms and legs pushing the fluffy snow to the sides. "C'mon, it's nice down here." Yeah, because laying down in a cold substance while it's already below freezing is "nice." Still, he sat down with a huff, his back pressing into the snow. The fluffy white stuff chilled his exposed neck, making him wish he had brought a scarf. Lyra finished her angel just as he started, standing up carefully and admiring her handywork. "See, isn't this nice, Gold?" she asked in a delighted voice, using her and Kris's nickname for him.

He sat up, glancing back at the form imprinted in the snow. It was a lot sloppier than Lyra's, he noticed. "Yeah, it is." It actually was kind of relaxing, a lot more so than he remembered from last year. Then again, last year he spent most of his time in the snow getting shoved down face-first by Silver and Kris. Thank goodness that those two were off somewhere bugging each other instead of him for once.

Speaking of last year, a sudden thought came to mind. "Hey, Soul, wanna have a contest?"

She looked over at him, her milk chocolate eyes wary of what he might suggest. "What kind of contest are we talking about?"

"You'll like this one, trust me. How about a contest to see which one of us can make a better model of our pokémon out of snow?" They had done the same last year with Kris, and although they had both lost to their friend, it was still a lot of fun.

Lyra laughed, her cheeks and nose a rosy pink from the cold. "Sure, why not? Are you looking to be beaten again?" He almost hadn't remembered that he had come in last, after Lyra.

Ethan cracked his knuckles as much as he could in his gloves, trying to appear menacing (though probably failing miserably). "You're on, Soul. This isn't going to be anything like last year."

They got right to work, rolling and manipulating the snow into the shapes they wanted. Luckily for them, the snow was perfect for packing, and stayed in place when they started layering them.

"Done!" Lyra called after about ten minutes. Being the perfectionist that she was on occasion, her snow marill was perfectly round and smooth, the little details added either in snow or with indents from her gloves.

After he clapped in approval, they looked over to Ethan's... snow blob. He had been trying to shape the snow into a typhlosion like last year, but it seemed to have come out as a tall column of white misshapen spheres. Definitely _not_ his intended effect. "...You win again." He fell dramatically into the snow, an arm over his eyes to block the sun.

The crunch of snow alerted him to Lyra approaching, and she laid down in the snow next to him, her head resting on his stomach. He felt the weight of it as his chest rose and fell with each breath, nice and soothing. "Thank you for this, Ethan," she sighed out, just barely audible.

"For what?"

He felt her head turn towards him and lifted his arm, their eyes meeting. "I've been kind of stressed lately, so thanks for helping take my mind off of everything. I really appreciate it." She looked back towards the sky. "You're an amazing boyfriend, you know that?"

"And you're an amazing girlfriend." He was fairly distracted at this point, so of course she decided to turn up her evilness.

Pushing herself off of him, she started running towards her house as best as she could in the thick snow. "Last one to my house is a rotten exeggcute!" she called over her shoulder with a mischievous grin.

"No fair, you got a head start!" But even as he went racing after her, he decided that getting up that early was definitely worth it. He wouldn't trade his girlfriend for the world.

* * *

 **Nice, lighthearted fluff for the holidays. What could be better?**

 **Oh yeah, I know. How about a Specialshipping chapter next update? I had a great time coming up with the title for that one, as well as the idea in general. Can't wait!**

 **Thanks to everyone for reading!**


	6. Another Reason Why Yellow Wears a Hat

**Ayy, here's my favorite chapter! What can I say? Specialshipping was my very first OTP in Pokemon! Does it show? XD**

* * *

There were plenty of reasons that Yellow kept her hat on all the time, even if it was safe to let her ponytail show. One is for pure comfort; another is out of habit.

But this? This was a new one.

She had been invited over to Red's house to help him decorate his Christmas tree. Since she lived in Viridian Forest and saw no need to have a single tree in her house when she had the entire forest surrounding her, she agreed, thinking that it would be a great bonding experience for the two of them. She had been right, for the most part.

They had started by pulling out the few boxes of decorations that Red had stored. Yellow could tell even with one glance that he had a lot less decorations than Blue did, something she didn't particularly mind. She herself didn't have a whole lot of decorations, either, letting the snow outside do most of the work for her.

"What do we do first? I've never really decorated a Christmas tree before," she admitted, toying a bit with the ends of her hair. Her hat sat on the couch abandoned, but only because Chuchu had stolen it off of her head and proceeded to guard it with Pika. Who knew exactly why the pikachu pair did that, though?

Hiding a somewhat incredulous look at her statement, he answered, "We have to put up the lights first, that way we won't have to work around any ornaments." He reached over and grabbed a plastic bag sitting on top of one of the boxes, lifting a coiled string of lights out of it. After looking it over for a minute, he concluded, "This should be enough."

She followed as he started to weave the string of lights through the bottom branches of the tree, handing the excess lights off to her. His hands moved almost expertly, not dropping the cord once. He didn't necessarily go all the way around the tree, either, winding back around once he reached the edge of the tree. "Maybe we should've left some room to go all the way around," he mumbled, a hand on his chin as he thought.

"I could probably fit behind the tree," she offered, observing the gap between the tree and the wall. "Then you can hand me the lights and I can finish the entire way around."

"That could work. Do you want to try it?" She was already slipping through the small crack and situating herself so that she could reach out when Red handed her the lights. "...That works."

She let out a laugh, glad her petite stature could be put to some use. "Here, just start handing them to me and I'll give them back on the other side." The system she had suggested worked, and in no time the lights had been strung all the way to the top, though she had to go on her tiptoes to reach so high.

"That's all of them," he told her, holding out a hand to help her out. So gentlemanly of him. _He must've gotten it from Green_ , Yellow thought to herself. As much as she loved Red, he was more of a reckless hero than a gentleman.

She was about halfway out when she felt a tug on her hair. When she turned back to look at what she had gotten caught on, her hair was pulled some more. Her ponytail had somehow gotten stuck in the tree branches and lights, creating knots everywhere. "Um..."

"Yellow? What's wrong?"

After trying to tug her hair free and only succeeding in tangling it even more, she sighed. "I think I'm stuck."

There was silence for a moment. "Are you sure?"

She looked back at him and saw that he was holding back a laugh. "Yes, I'm sure! Help me get out, please." A series of small laughs caught her attention. Straining her neck to see exactly who was laughing at her, she soon found the culprits. "Pika! Chuchu! Stop laughing! It's not funny."

"...Maybe a little," Red admitted, his lips turning up in a small amused smile. When she gave him an unamused look, he shook his head. "Okay, hold still and I'll try to untangle you."

She did so, crossing her arms as she felt him carefully pulling her hair out of the knots and branches. "You know," she said after a minute, "this is another reason I wear my hat so often."

"So your hair won't get caught in a Christmas tree?" Another strand of her hair fell loose from the branches.

"So my hair won't get caught in anything," she corrected, checking to make sure the pikachu pair wasn't still laughing at her. "This is a new one."

More hair fell back now. "It must take some serious skill to get your hair tangled in a Christmas tree," he teased, working on a particularly large knot. "But you know, the tree is just that much brighter with you in it."

Her hands dropped to her sides and her mouth fell open slightly. "Are you... _flirting?!_ " She recognized his tone of voice from what Blue had told her flirting sounded like, and it certainly sounded that way to her, but she didn't exactly have a reference to know for sure.

"There. All done." The rest of her hair fell back down her back, completely free of the branches. Yellow slowly emerged from behind the tree, holding her hair so it wouldn't get caught again. Red was waiting for her on the other side, swiftly kissing her forehead before she could react. "And yes, that was flirting."

So Blue was right; he wasn't as oblivious as they had thought. But now that she knew that, she had no idea how to react. Chuchu and Pika were laughing now at her reaction. She would have to have a little chat with them later about this. "L-let's finish the tree," she suggested, certain that her face was burning a million different shades of pink at the moment. Before she started on the ornaments, though, she grabbed her hat and shoved it on her head, tucking her ponytail into it. For her, when things changed- even positively- it was always nice to have some old comfort.

But as she realized when she felt Red's arm around her shoulders, new comforts were good, too.

* * *

 **Oh yeah, and FYI, I haven't exactly read past the end of the GSC arc yet, so sorry for any inconsistencies. But still, I really enjoyed writing this chapter for obvious reasons. I could see everything about this in my mind, and I just had to get it into words! I hope you liked it.**

 **Next up, for Christmas Eve, we have a Silver-centric chap- *is cut off by reminder on my phone* Um, nevermind, I was _going_ to write something for Silver's birthday, I swear! I just...never got around to it and got bored with the idea I had. So instead we've got LeafGreenShipping in the animeverse because honestly I need Ash there. He hasn't really appeared in this series yet.**

 **Thanks to boomingmaster for favoriting and following and everyone else for reading!**


	7. Snow Cold Anger

**Wow, this chapter is really early in the day, isn't it? I couldn't sleep anymore and nobody else is awake yet so I decided to be productive XD Anyway, I really really really like the way I wrote Leaf in this one. Also, oh yeah, merry Christmas Eve and happy birthday, Silver!**

* * *

Ash and Gary thought they knew about girls.

They knew that if girls like Serena were angry, it wouldn't last long and it wouldn't have any repercussions against them (except a snowball to the face). They knew that if a girl like Misty was angry, then to give her space and she'll cool off in time with minimal damage to them.

However, if a girl like their childhood friend Leaf was angry, the best course of action was to run like heck to avoid her explosion of anger. Gary, unfortunately, knew this all too well. He also knew that Leaf's anger hit twice as hard in the winter.

He honestly should have known by now what makes her mad, but he seemed to not learn a bit from his past mistakes. That's what Ash observed, at least, when Gary came running up to him in the middle of winter one day.

Ash had been at Professor Oak's lab, playing in the snow with Pikachu and his other pokémon, when Gary came sprinting out of the lab towards them, his dark viridian eyes filled with panic.

"You've gotta help me," he wheezed, hands on his knees to steady himself once he arrived in front of Ash.

Ash shared a quick, confused glance with Pikachu. "What do you need help with?" he asked curiously. "Weren't you helping the professor and Tracey with research today?"

He waved a hand in front of his face. "Not important. Hide me. _Now_." Hearing the urgency in his voice, Ash and his pokémon started building a sort of snow fortress, made much quicker with the help of Ash's glalie freezing the Water Guns made by his Water-types. There was only one reason Gary would be this stressed about something, and because of the experience they both had in this field, Ash knew that that something would be coming very soon.

He was right. As soon as he and his pokémon finished the ice fort and had Gary hide in it, that something came storming up to them. "Where is he?" Leaf demanded, her face a beet red from anger. Her arms were crossed tightly, covered with the puffiness of her blue winter coat.

"Where is who?" Playing the oblivious card was one of Ash's most obvious moves, but it was the only one that would buy him even a little time to be spared by Leaf's nuclear blast.

Leaf's ocean blue eyes bore into him. "Where. Is. He." She was really scaring him now, and he wanted no part of this. So, with a conspiratorial glance toward his pokémon, he did the only logical thing:

He ran.

"Fine, I'll find him myself!" Leaf huffed as she watched his retreating back, followed by all of his pokémon. No matter; she could easily find that jerk Gary on her own. And she knew the perfect place to start...

She had known Ash and Gary forever, and never in her life had she seen Ash build a snow fort. Whenever they had snow wars in the winter, he was always one to work on offense instead of defense, not wasting time with making a fort and instead making more and more snowballs. Therefore, he could only have built this fort with his pokémon for one reason: to hide Gary from her.

Of course, she couldn't let Gary know that she had found him just yet; she needed to have her fun. She had to toy with him first, lure him into a false sense of security. She wasn't a rookie at this game; if anything, she had written the rules. It was all about mastery.

She took a few steps away from the fortress to trick Gary into thinking that she was moving away before silently backtracking, crouching down and packing a few snowballs together as quietly as she could. Once she had a good ten or so stacked in her arms, she attacked.

Kicking down the walls of the snow fort was easy. It had been a rush job, so of course the walls were thinner than what Gary probably would've preferred. Once those were out of the way and the junior researcher was left out in the open, she struck. Launching snowball after snowball at him, she basically made it impossible for him to run, creeping closer with each attack.

"Found you, jerk," she growled, throwing her last snowball at his chest with such force that it knocked him onto his back. Before he could move, she sat on his stomach, pinning him down the way she did when they were younger. "Now, let's just sit here and think about why I am acting this way right now. Care to recall?"

"...Not really." Much to her surprise, he shifted underneath her, making her slip onto the snow. He quickly sat up and tackled her to the ground, effectively pinning her on her back. "You know, you're kinda cute when you're angry."

As if her cheeks weren't already red enough from her anger, she blushed some more at the pseudo-compliment. "I'm not done with you," she muttered, averting her gaze from his eyes. "I still need my revenge."

His expression took on those teasing qualities he had when they had started their journeys. "Aw, c'mon, Leaf. You can't seriously be mad at me."

"You called me old and a know-it-all."

"I _implied_ that you are wiser than me given our small age difference," he smooth-talked with one of his signature smirks. "All compliments of the highest caliber, of course."

Okay, that enraged her. She narrowed her eyes at him. "I highly doubt that, and would appreciate it if you got off of me."

"Mm, no." Instead of getting up like he would _any other time_ , he leaned down even more. "I think it's better if you stay down until you're calm again. No need to get everyone in the lab in a flurry because of a little misunderstanding."

Little did he know, she still had the element of surprise. "Fine, then." She rolled her eyes and pretended to give up, relaxing under him and then suddenly surging upward and kissing him. He leaned back in surprise, giving her enough space to wriggle out of his grip. "You really need to expect the unexpected with me, Oak," she laughed, dusting the snow off of her arms and hands. He was still awestruck, his mouth hanging open and his cheeks a nice rosy pink. Oh, if only she had a camera!

"It's about time!" Their heads whipped around to see Ash grinning at them, his pikachu soundly on his shoulder and wearing a matching grin. How long had he been watching them?

Leaf and Gary looked at each other for a moment. "Get him," they said in unison, picking up as much snow as they could carry and charging towards their friend, ready to exact the revenge he should've known was coming toward him. All in a day's work.

* * *

 **RUN, ASH! RUN LIKE THE WIND!**

 **Ahem. Anyways, I liked this a lot. And I'm sure next time you'll like some ChessShipping! WOOO!**

 **I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday! Love you all!**

 **Thank you to everyone for reading!**


	8. Light of My Life

**We're going through a time portal on this one, folks! First, though, PC personalities: Hilda is really competitive and loves teasing Hilbert, and Hilbert is...actually more or less the same. Huh. I apparently wasn't feeling very creative on that one.**

 **Anyway, let me take you back to where this story begins...**

* * *

 _Eleven years ago..._

"Momma, what's Daddy doing with that man?" Hilda tugged on her mother's arm, pointing with her free hand out the window of their house to where her dad was talking with another man.

Her mother smiled fondly at her daughter. "He's talking about our competition, sweetie."

"What competition?"

Hilda was then picked up by her mother and swung around once before settling in her mother's arms. "A lights competition. You know how we put up lights for Christmas every year?" Hilda nodded, eyes wide. "We have a challenge going with that man and his family. And you see that little boy out there?" She almost hadn't noticed before, but there was a boy of about six years old, her age, next to the man. "He'll be your own rival in this contest."

The little girl perked up at this. She'd always heard about trainers having rivals when they were older, and couldn't wait to have one herself. She peered out the window at the boy, and it was if fate had been playing with them, as their eyes connected. "My rival," she whispered to herself in awe. She couldn't wait until she was older and could compete with him herself.

 _Score: 1-0, White family_

 **X-X-X**

 _Nine years ago..._

Hilbert was buzzing as he waited to hear the announcement of the winner of the lights competition this year. He knew that his dad's arrangement would blow Hilda's dad's out of the way like last year, but only time would tell.

Speaking of... He felt Hilda's strong gaze set on him from where she was waiting with her parents. Her friend Bianca stood next to her, bouncing in anticipation. Meanwhile, his friend Cheren was beside him, resolutely still. Cheren and Bianca's parents were always the judges for this contest, if only to allow him and Hilda some extra time with their friends.

"The winner of this year's contest," Cheren's dad announced in a dramatic voice, "is... the White family!" Hilda and Bianca were elated, hugging each other while still bouncing. On the other hand, Hilbert deflated. He was so sure they would win this year, but this put Hilda's family ahead by one year winning.

Cheren placed one of his gloved hands on his shoulder. "You'll win next year," he assured his friend. "Why don't we go congratulate Hilda for winning?"

Stubborn as ever at eight years old, Hilbert crossed his arms and shook his head, lips set in a pout. Cheren merely sighed and went to congratulate her on his own, leaving Hilbert alone and fuming. He looked away when he saw Hilda's questioning gaze directed his way, wishing to go inside and end this humiliation.

 _Score: 2-1, White family_

 **X-X-X**

 _Seven years ago..._

"How do you like my lights?" Hilda nudged the boy beside her to grab his attention. Since they were ten now, and were very bored with just watching, their parents had let them help with the decorating for the first time. Hilda was confident in the design she had created, if her proud stance had anything to say about it.

"They're okay, but I like mine better." Of course he did. He said that about his family's display every year, win or lose. She stuck her tongue out at him when she was certain he was looking before joining Bianca and Cheren, as she and the former had adopted the latter into their friend group. If Hilbert was nice, _maybe_ she would consider adopting him, too.

Bianca grinned at her while still continuing her conversation with Cheren. "...few more years! I can't wait!"

"A few more years until what?" she asked, curious as to what she had missed.

Cheren answered for Bianca. "There are six more years until the four of us can go on our journeys, of course."

" _The four of us,"_ huh? She could only imagine how much of a pain in the butt Hilbert would be if they were all traveling together in a few years. It's possible that he might grow out of his stubbornness by then, but she found it very unlikely. Who knew, though? Maybe her rival would mature into someone beautiful.

 _Score: 3-4, Black family_

 **X-X-X**

 _Three years ago..._

The first holiday season after she became a hall-of-famer did not go the way she expected. Hilbert could tell that from his rival's sour expression as she observed the judging of the lights display her parents had put up. He knew that she had been dead set on setting up an epic lights display, but she had broken her wrist a couple of weeks ago while training, so her parents took over this year. So, in other words, she was having a bad winter so far.

Maybe he could do something to brighten it.

As he approached her with a smile, he could tell that she was wishing he would go away. The trials they shared against Team Plasma had bonded them in a way that they knew practically everything about each other, including when they don't want to be bothered. "How's your wrist?" he asked, truly caring about her wellbeing.

"Better," she responded somewhat grumpily, her free hand absently rubbing her casted wrist. Her normally warm blue eyes were stone cold as she met his gaze. "You're gonna win this year."

Here comes the cheering-her-up part. "Aw, c'mon, Hilda. Your parents did a pretty great job. Their display is beautiful." She looked somewhat annoyed that he was complimenting the display that she had nothing to do with, but he cut her off as he continued. "Of course, it's not as beautiful as you."

She stared at him, her mouth dropping open in shock. Her cheeks slowly turned a light pink, but after a minute of her not responding in any other way, he smiled and walked away towards Cheren and Bianca. He could tell that she was staring at his back, and although he had a sneaking suspicion that she enjoyed his flirting, he knew that she wouldn't let this blind her from winning.

 _Score: 4-5, Black family_

 **X-X-X**

 _Now..._

The tiebreaker year was here. Hilda was absolutely certain she was going to win this whole competition; it felt like she had been waiting her whole life for this moment.

While Cheren, Bianca, and their parents inspected the light displays, Hilbert nudged her in the ribs. "Don't forget that bet we made last year," he reminded her with a flirtatious wink.

She stuck her tongue out at him playfully before smiling. "How could I forget? You're going down!" The bet they had made played back in her mind: if she won the tiebreaker, then Hilbert had to do whatever she wanted for a day. On the other hand, Hilbert was more straightforward: if he won, he got to take her out on a date. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but it was a win-win for her.

But she got bored of waiting for the results. It looked like their "judges" were making sure they were overly thorough this year.

After waiting for all these years to see who would be the final winner- they had agreed six or so years back to end their competition after eleven years- she was done. It didn't really matter who won either way, as she would just ask him to take her out anyway. She grabbed his hand and dragged him away from their houses, heading towards the only cafe in Nuvema Town.

"Where are we going?" he asked her while still allowing himself to be dragged along.

"We," she said, turning back momentarily to look at him, "are going on a date. Because as much as our lights competition has done for us, you are the light in mine." She cringed internally when she spouted the pickup line she had stored for this moment. At seventeen, she would never usually use one on him or anyone else. Still, the desired effect was reached when he beamed at her.

"I thought you'd never say so," he laughed, running ahead and pulling her along instead.

 _Score: Love_

* * *

 **Yes. The score is love. I didn't tell you who won, so if you were wondering, oh well :P**

 **Also, you could probably argue that there's a tiny hint of angst even though I promised no angst. To that, I say again: oh well XD**

 **The last chapter is being uploaded soon! And because of that, I'm making you wait to find out the platonic (yes, _platonic_ ) ship. Haha!**

 **Thank you to everyone who's been reading this!**


	9. Sugar Rush

**Guess who just finished reading the Ruby and Sapphire arc a couple of days ago? I got the box set for Christmas, and I've got to say, FranticShipping is one of my new favorite ships! The entire arc was such a wild ride, I loved it.**

 **Another note: I looked back at the fic I wrote last New Year's, "New Years, New Beginnings," and I couldn't help but think to myself: was I really that bad? I get super embarrassed by all of my old works for some reason.**

 **But you're not here for that. You're here to read the last installment of this. So how 'bout a little platonic MarissonShipping?**

* * *

Alain didn't sign up for this. Well, he volunteered for the research trip to Kanto, and he had encouraged his friend Mairin to join him, but he didn't sign up for watching an already energetic girl become hyped up on sugar.

To be fair, he warned her against it. They were in Celadon City for the time being, but even there snow had fallen heavily, the windchill far below freezing at the moment. Luckily, the Pokémon Center had plenty of hot chocolate to go around, but there was also the matter of Mairin taking about ten marshmallows for her mug to address.

"There's no way you should be having that much sugar," he told her once he saw her taking her fifth marshmallow from the overfilled basket.

She merely shrugged off his comment, plopping another five in her cup, covering all of the visible hot chocolate. "I usually have more than this," she informed him with an impish grin. "I wanted to save some for you, though."

"That's alright. I don't like marshmallows." Instead, he placed one of the plastic lids on his cup, watching the steam rise out of the small opening. "Come on, let's go to our room so we can get some work done."

"Okay!" Mairin followed him after her first sugar-filled sip, the spring in her step more evident than before. The sugar was already boosting her energy. Alain sighed and shook his head, certain that he wasn't going to be getting much of anything done today.

 **X-X-X**

Mairin's hot chocolate was completely gone within ten minutes, but the sugar was still in her system and driving Alain crazy.

"She's bouncing off the walls, Professor," Alain reported (read: complained) to Professor Sycamore via one of the Center's video phones. "Any advice on what to do?"

The Kalos professor laughed heartily. "You mean to tell me you've never had to watch over someone on a sugar high?" Wondering when the professor himself could have dealt with someone on a sugar high, he shook his head. "The best thing to do is just wait it out. She'll get off of it eventually." A crash resounded from somewhere behind the professor, causing both parties to wince. "I have to go, Alain. Good luck!"

With that, the call ended. Alain just stood there for a second, reflecting on the professor's words. He had looked up how long sugar rushes usually last and had come up with somewhere around forty minutes. That's another half hour he had to wait this out. Wonderful.

He returned to their room only to find Mairin sitting on one of the two beds, rapidly tapping a pen against the notebook she had brought for research, seemingly thinking. Still, he couldn't be sure, so he decided to ask. "What are you doing?"

She looked up at him, somewhat surprised by his sudden appearance. "I'm working," she answered, her words coming out just a smidge faster than usual, her pen still tapping away. Moving closer, he could see the tip was making little ink marks on her page, though they were barely visible. "See, I thought that I could get some work done while you called Professor Sycamore so I started thinking of possible places in Kanto we could go to research mega evolution and some people we may need to ask about it and-"

"Slow down, please, Mairin. You're talking about a mile a minute." He barely followed any of what she just said, though he was pleasantly surprised that the parts of her sentence that he had heard were relevant to their research.

"No I'm not," she said even faster with a slight frown. Her pen tapping accelerated, sounding more and more annoying by the second.

Another half hour of this, huh? Alain rubbed his temples, already feeling a headache coming on. "Could you please stop tapping your pen? It's giving me a headache."

"Sure." Instead of tapping her pen, now she switched to bouncing her leg up and down, which would have been more effective if her feet could reach the ground from her position. "You know, there are a lot of Kanto pokémon who can mega evolve, aren't there? There's venusaur and blastoise and charizard has two and pidgeot and beedrill and gyarados and aerodactyl and mewtwo and gengar and alakazam and kangaskhan. Wouldn't it be cool if floreges had a mega evolution? Then it could be like an entire bouquet of flowers and-"

"Mairin." He closed his eyes for a moment, taking a seat on his bed with his own notebook. "Please. Calm. Down."

There was silence for one fleeting, beautiful moment in which Alain made a mental note to never give Mairin sugar ever again. "I am calm, though," she muttered, sounding somewhat offended. "I'm super calm, like I just used Calm Mind." He heard her flop down onto her back and heave out a sigh. "I'm tired. Are you tired?" At least her speech was slowing down a little; he could actually understand her now. The sugar must be wearing off, and it had only been another five or so minutes. Maybe her sugar rush was going to be short-lived.

"If you're tired, then take a nap," he suggested lightly, opening his eyes again. _Please, please take a nap._ To his surprise, Mairin had already closed her eyes and seemed like she was about to drift off. She curled up slightly as though she was cold, so Alain went over to her bed and undid the sheets for her to crawl under.

"G'night," she whispered, falling sound asleep under the covers. That certainly took a welcome three-sixty from bouncing off the walls. And it had only been, what, fifteen-ish minutes?

Still, he smiled at her sleeping form, glad that she was at least getting some rest out of this sugar rush. And even though he liked his best friend more than just about anyone else, anytime she was on a sugar high ever again he was sticking Professor Sycamore with her.

* * *

 **I know, this was really short, but I hope you still liked it. I thought the idea of Alain having to deal with an already hyperactive Mairin on a sugar high was hilarious, which is what gave this chapter life.**

 **Thanks for sticking around with this collection, and I'll see you all in 2018!**


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